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Owning Your Faith

And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest . . . Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. – 2 Chronicles 24: 2, 17-18

Writers of children’s Sunday school curricula love to tell the story of Joash the boy king renovating the long-neglected temple. “You can be like Joash,” we tell children. “You can obey God and do great things!” His precocious obedience is supposed to inspire children to do right by the Lord.

But to do right by God, you have to be right with God.

Joash offers an important lesson for us, just not the one you find in a typical Sunday school lesson. In reality, Joash isn’t unlike some people who call themselves Christians today. You ask them how long they’ve been Christians, and they respond, “I’ve been a Christian all my life. I was going to church before I was born.” (And that prompts a word of countrified wisdom: Just because you find it in a henhouse, that doesn’t make it a chicken.)

The problem is that faith doesn’t come by association. Associating yourself with Christians, whether in your family or a church setting, doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car – or hanging out in a henhouse makes you a chicken. Each of us must decide for ourselves what we will do with Jesus. That lone decision sets the course for our lives and determines our eternal destiny.

And if we fail to resolve that question – if we continue merely to draw upon the strength and guidance of godly influences in our lives – we will fall flat on our faces when those influences are removed. We will choose to fill that void with another strong and persuasive influence, godly or otherwise.

You see it in the lives of adult children whose godly parents or grandparents have passed on to glory or have been silenced by louder, more appealing voices. We’ve seen it in pop culture. We’ve seen it in our churches. We’ve seen it in our families. And perhaps you even see it in your own life.

Maybe you’re one person among one group of friends and another among a second group. Maybe you’re one of those who “plays church” – who puts her best church face on, and who says and does all the right things in that hallowed hall every Sunday and Wednesday. But what kind of person are you the rest of the week? Are you truly living to know Christ and to make Him known? Are you seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33)?

How can you know if you’ll be able to stand in a time of trial? It depends on whether you’re standing with Jesus. Joash turned his back on the Lord at great cost to himself and his kingdom.

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Meet the Author

Cheri Henderson is a blood-bought child of God, a wife and mother and grandmother, a writer and editor, and a musician. She is passionate, bold, insightful, often silly and slightly hyperactive. Cheri maintains a writing career despite the constant company of her Border collie mixes, Pepper and Biscuit.

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How You Can Know Jesus

There is a God, and He desperately desires a relationship with you. So earnest is His desire to know you that He came to earth as a man, died for your sins, and rose from the dead so you could have victory over death.

But simply knowing about God won't do, my friends. The Bible tells us "even the demons believe that – and shudder" (James 2:19). You must enter into a relationship with God – to know Him as a friend. Here's how:

1. Romans 3:23 tells us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Acknowledge you're part of that "all." You have done wrong, thought wrong, said wrong, and failed to keep promises. Even one sin – if that were possible – is enough to disqualify us to stand in God's perfect presence.

2. Romans 6:23 spells out what our sins means before a holy God: "The wages of sin is death." This death is an eternal death, one that involves endless suffering and separation from God.

3. Romans 5:8 offers us hope. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Few would die for a good man; who but God would die for a a wretched one?

4. Romans 10:9-10 provides us our call to action: "that if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." God doesn't make it hard.

5. Romans 10:13 assures us of our new relationship with God through Christ: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

That's the beginning of the Christian life. Through this blog, we journey through the challenges and joys of what it means to be a Christ follower.